WORSHIPPER AND WORSHIPPED

(This lecture is reproduced from the Vedanta
and the West. See
Vol. IV.
)

(Delivered in San Francisco
area, April 9, 1900)

We have been taking up the more analytical side of human
nature. In this course we [shall] study the emotional side. . . . The
former deals with man as unlimited being, [as] principle, the latter
with man as limited being. . . . The one has no time to stop for a few
tear-drops or pangs; the other cannot proceed without wiping the
tear-drop, without healing that misery. One is great, so great and
grand that sometimes we are staggered by the magnitude; the other [is]
commonplace, and yet most beautiful and dear to us. One gets hold of
us, takes us up to the heights where our lungs almost burst. We cannot
breathe [in] that atmosphere. The other leaves us where we are and
tries to see the objects of life, [takes the limited] view. One will
accept nothing until it has the shining seal of reason; the other has
faith, and what it cannot see it believes. Both are necessary. A bird
cannot fly with only one wing. . . .

What we want is to see the man who is harmoniously developed .
. . great in heart, great in mind, [great in deed] . . . . We want the
man whose heart feels intensely the miseries and sorrows of the world.
. . . And [we want] the man who not only can feel but can find the
meaning of things, who delves deeply into the heart of nature and
understanding. [We want] the man who will not even stop there, [but]
who wants to work out [the feeling and meaning by actual deeds]. Such a
combination of head, heart, and hand is what we want. There are many
teachers in this world, but you
will find [that most of them] are one-sided. [One] sees the glorious
midday sun of intellect [and] sees nothing else. Another hears the
beautiful music of love and can hear nothing else. Another is
[immersed] in activity, and has neither time to feel nor time to think.
Why not [have] the giant who is equally active, equally knowing, and
equally loving? Is it impossible? Certainly not. This is the man of the
future, of whom there are [only a] few at present. [The number of such
will increase] until the whole world is humanised.

I have been talking to you so long about intellect [and]
reason. We have heard the whole of Vedanta. The veil of Maya breaks:
wintry clouds vanish, and the sunlight shines on us. I have been trying
to climb the heights of the Himalayas, where the peaks disappear beyond
the clouds. I propose lip study with you the other side: the most
beautiful valleys, the most marvellous exquisiteness in nature. [We
shall study the] love that holds us here in spite of all the miseries
of the world, [the] love that has made us forge the chain of misery,
this eternal martyrdom which man is suffering willingly, of his own
accord. We want to study that for which man has forged the chain with
his own hands, that for which he suffers, that eternal love. We do not
mean to forget the other. The glacier of the Himalayas must join hands
with the rice fields of Kashmir. The thunderbolt must blend its base
note with the warbling of the birds.

This course will have to do with everything exquisite and
beautiful. Worship is everywhere, in every soul. Everyone worships God.
Whatever be the name, they are all worshipping God. The beginnings of
worship — like the beautiful lotus, like life itself — are in the dirt
of the earth. . . . There is the element of fear. There is the
hungering for this world's gain. There is the worship of the beggar.
These are the beginnings of [the] world
worshipping, [culminating in]
loving God and worshipping God through man.

Is there any God? Is there anyone to be loved, any such one
capable of being loved? Loving the stone would not be much good. We
only love that which understands love, that which draws our love. So
with worship. Never say [that] there is a man in this world of ours who
worshipped a piece of stone [as stone]. He always worshipped [the
omnipresent being in the stone].

We find out that the omnipresent being is in us. [But] how can
we worship, unless that being is separate from us? I can only worship
Thee, and not me. I can only pray to Thee, and not me. Is there any
"Thou"?

The One becomes many. When we see the One, any limitations
reflected through Maya disappear; but it is quite true that the
manifold is not valueless. It is through the many that we reach the
one. . . .

Is there any Personal God — a God who thinks, who understands,
a God who guides us? There is. The Impersonal God cannot have any one
of these attributes. Each one of you is an individual: you think, you
love, [you] hate, [you] are angry, sorry, etc.; yet you are impersonal,
unlimited. [You are] personal and impersonal in one. You have the
personal and the impersonal aspects. That [impersonal reality] cannot
be angry, [nor] sorry, [nor] miserable — cannot even think misery. It
cannot think, cannot know. It is knowledge itself. But the personal
[aspect] knows, thinks, and dies, etc. Naturally the universal Absolute
must have two aspects; the one representing the infinite reality of all
things; the other, a personal aspect, the Soul of our souls, Lord of
all lords. [It is] He who creates this universe. Under [His] guidance
this universe exists. . . .

He, the Infinite, the Ever-Pure, the Ever-[Free,]. . . He is
no judge, God cannot be [a] judge. He does not sit upon a throne and
judge between the good and the
wicked. . . . He is no
magistrate, [no] general, [nor] master. Infinitely merciful, infinitely
loving is the Personal [God].

Take it from another side. Every cell in your body has a soul
conscious of the cell. It is a separate entity. It has a little will of
its own, a little sphere of action of its own. All [cells] combined
make up an individual. [In the same way,] the Personal God of the
universe is made up of all these [many individuals].

Take it from another side. You, as I see you, are as much of
your absolute nature as has been limited and perceived by one. I have
limited you in order to see you through the power of my eyes, my
senses. As much of you as my eyes can see, I see. As much of you as my
mind can grasp is what I know to be you, and nothing more. In the same
way, I am reading the Absolute, the Impersonal [and see Him as
Personal]. As long as we have body and mind, we always see this triune
being: God, nature, and soul. There must always be the three in one,
inseparable. . . . There is nature. There are human souls. There is
again That in which nature and the human souls [are contained]

The universal soul has become embodied. My soul itself is a
part of God. He is the eye of our eves, the life of our life, the mind
of our mind, the soul of our soul. This is the highest ideal of the
Personal God we can have.

If you are not a dualist, [but are] a monist, you can still
have the Personal God. . . . There is the One without a second. That
One wanted to love Himself. Therefore, out of that One, He made [many].
. . . It is the big Me, the real Me, that that little me is
worshipping. Thus in all systems you can have the Personal [God].

Some people are born under circumstances that make them
happier than others: why should this be in the reign of a just being?
There is mortality in this world. These are the difficulties in the way
[These problems] have
never been answered. They cannot
be answered from any dualistic plane. We have to go back to philosophy
to treat things as they are. We are suffering from our own Karma. It is
not the fault of God. What we do is our own fault, nothing else. Why
should God be blamed?. . .

Why is there evil? The only way you can solve [the problem] is
[by saying that God is] the cause of both good and evil. The great
difficulty in the theory of the Personal God is that if you say He is
only good and not evil, you will be caught in the trap of your own
argument. How do you know there is [a] God? You say [that He is] the
Father of this universe, and you say He is good; and because there is
[also] evil in the world, God must be evil. . . . The same difficulty!

There is no good, and there is no evil. God is all there is .
. . . How do you know what is good? You feel [it]. [How do you know
what is evil? If evil comes, you feel it. . . . We know good and evil
by our feelings. There is not one man who feels only good, happy
feelings. There is not one who feels only unhappy feelings. . . .

Want and anxiety are the causes of all unhappiness and
happiness too. Is want increasing or decreasing? Is life becoming
simple or complex? Certainly complex. Wants are being multiplied. Your
great-grandfathers did not want the same dress or the same amount of
money [you do]. They had no electric cars, [nor] railroads, etc. That
is why they had to work less. As soon as these things come, the want
arises, and you have to work harder. More and more anxiety, and more
and more competition.

It is very hard work to get money. It is harder work to keep
it. You fight the whole world to get a little money together [and]
fight all your life to protect it. [Therefore] there is more anxiety
for the rich than for the poor. . . . This is the way it is. . . .

There are good and evil every where in this world. Sometimes
evil becomes good, true; but other times good becomes evil also. All
our senses produce evil some time or other. Let a man drink wine. It is
not bad [at first], but let him go on drinking, [and] it will produce
evil. . . . A man is born of rich parents; good enough. He becomes a
fool, never exercises his body or brain. That is good producing evil.
Think of this love of life: We go away and jump about and live a few
moments; we work hard. We are born babies, entirely incapable. It takes
us years to understand things again. At sixty or seventy we open our
eyes, and then comes the word, "Get out! " And there you are.

We have seen that good and evil are relative terms. The thing
[that is] good for me is bad for you. If you eat the dinner that I eat,
you will begin to weep, and I shall laugh. . . . We [may] both dance,
but I with joy and you with pain. . . . The same thing is good at one
part of our life and bad at another part. How can you say [that] good
and evil are all cut and dried — [that] this is all good and that is
all evil?

Now, who is responsible for all this good and evil, if God is
ever the good? The Christians and the Mohammedans say there is a
gentleman called Satan. How can you say there are two gentlemen
working? There must be one. . . . The fire that burns the child also
cooks the meal. How can you call the fire good or bad, and how can you
say it was created by two different persons? Who creates all
[so-called] evil? God. There is no other way out. He sends death and
life, plague and epidemics, and everything. If such is God, He is the
good; He is the evil; He is the beautiful; He is the terrible; He is
life; and He is death.

How can such a God be worshipped? We shall come to
[understand] how the soul can really learn to worship the terrible;
then that soul will have peace. . . . Have you
peace? Do you get rid of
anxieties? Turn around, first of all, and face the terrible. Tear aside
the mask and find the same [God]. He is the personal — all that is
[apparently] good and all that is [apparently] bad. There is none else.
If there were two Gods, nature could not stand a moment. There is not
another one in nature. It is all harmony. If God played one side and
the devil the other, the whole [of] nature would be [in chaos]. Who can
break the law? If I break this glass, it will fall down. If anyone
succeeds in throwing one atom out of place, every other atom will go
out of balance. . . . The law can never be broken. Each atom is kept in
its place. Each is weighed and measured and fulfils its [purpose] and
place. Through His command the winds blow, the sun shines. Through His
rule the worlds are kept in place. Through His orders death is sporting
upon the earth. Just think of two or three Gods having a wrestling
match in this world! It cannot be.

We now come to see that we can have the Personal God, the
creator of this universe, who is merciful and also cruel. . . . He is
the good, He is the evil. He smiles, and He frowns. And none can go
beyond His law. He is the creator of this universe.

What is meant by creation, something coming out of nothing?
Six thousand years ago God woke up from His dream and created the world
[and] before that there was nothing? What was God doing then, taking a
good nap? God is the cause of the universe, and we can know the cause
through the effect. If the effect is not present, the cause is not
[the] cause. The cause is always known in and through the effect. . . .
Creation is infinite. . . . You cannot think of the beginning in time
or in space.

Why does He create it? Because He likes to; because He is
free. . . . You and I are bound by law, because we can work [only] in
certain ways and not in others. "Without hands, He can grasp
everything.
Without feet, [He moves fast]."
Without body, He is omnipotent. "Whom no eyes can see, but who is the
cause of sight in every eye, know Him to be the Lord." You cannot
worship anything else. God is the omnipotent supporter of this
universe. What is called "law" is the manifestation of His will. He
rules the universe by His laws.

So far [we have discussed] God and nature, eternal God and
eternal nature. What about souls? They also are eternal. No soul was
[ever] created; neither can [the] soul die. Nobody can even imagine his
own death. The soul is infinite, eternal. How can it die? It changes
bodies. As a man takes off his old, worn-out garments and puts on new
and fresh ones, even so the worn-out body is thrown away and [a] fresh
body is taken.

What is the nature of the soul? The soul is also [omnipotent]
and omnipresent. Spirit has neither length, nor breadth, nor thickness.
. . . How can it be said to be here and there? This body falls; [the
soul] works [through] another body. The soul is a circle of which the
circumference is nowhere, but the centre is in the body. God is a
circle whose circumference is nowhere, but whose centre is everywhere.
The soul by its [very] nature is blessed, pure, and perfect; it could
never be pure if its nature was impure. . . . The soul's nature is
purity; that is why souls [can] become pure. It is blessed [by nature];
that is why it [can] become blessed. It is peace; [that is why it can
become peaceful]. . . .

All of us who find ourselves in this plane, attracted to the
body, work hard for a living, with jealousies and quarrels and
hardships, and then death. That shows we are not what we should be. We
are not free, perfectly pure, and so on. The soul, as it were, has
become degraded. Then what the soul requires is expansion. . . .

How can you do it? Can you work it out yourself ? No. If a
man's face is dusty, can you wash it out with
dust? If I put a seed in the
ground, the seed produces a tree, the tree produces a seed, the seed
another tree, etc. Hen and egg, egg and hen. If you do something good,
you will have to reap the result of that, be born again and be sorry.
Once started in this infinite chain, you cannot stop. You go on, . . .
up and down, [to] heavens and earths, and all these [bodies]. . . .
There is no way out.

Then how can you get out of all this, and what are you here
for? One idea is to get rid of misery. We are all struggling day and
night to get rid of misery. . . . We cannot do it by work. Work will
produce more work. It is only possible if there is someone who is free
himself and lends us a hand. "Hear, ye children of immortality, all
those that reside in this plane and all those that reside in the
heavens above, I have found the secret", says the great sage. "I have
found Him who is beyond all darkness. Through His mercy alone we cross
this ocean of life."

In India, the idea of the goal is this: There are heavens,
there are hells, there are earths, but they are not permanent. If I am
sent to hell, it is not permanent. The same struggle goes on and on
wherever I am. How to get beyond all this struggle is the problem. If I
go to heaven, perhaps there will be a little bit of rest. If I get
punished for my misdeeds, that cannot last [for ever either] . . . .
The Indian ideal is not to go to heaven. Get out of this earth, get out
of hell, and get out of heaven! What is the goal? It is freedom. You
must all be free. The glory of the soul is covered up. It has to be
uncovered again. The soul exists. It is everywhere. Where shall it go?
. . . Where can it go? It can only go where it is not. If you
understand [that] it is ever present, . . . [there will be] perfect
happiness for ever afterwards. No more births and deaths. . . . No more
disease, no body. [The] body itself is the biggest disease. . . .

The soul shall stand [as] soul. Spirit shall live as spirit.
How is this to be done? By worshipping [the Lord in] the soul, who, by
his [very] nature is ever present, pure, and perfect. There cannot be
two almighty beings in this world. [Imagine having] two or three Gods;
one will create the world, another says, "I will destroy the world." It
[can] never happen. There must be one God. The soul attains to
perfection; [it becomes] almost omnipotent [and] omniscient. This is
the worshipper. Who is the worshipped? He, the Lord God Himself, the
Omnipresent, the Omniscient, and so on. And above all, He is Love. How
is [the soul] to attain this perfection? By worship.